Islam and Human Rights

Asma Uddin

Asma Uddin

The explicit assertion of the freedom to “change” one’s religion in Article 18 of the UDHR has been especially controversial. While the inclusion of Article 18 did not prevent Syria, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan from voting for the UDHR, the Saudi Arabian delegation objected to it and therefore abstained. Similarly, the reservations of some majority-Muslim states...

Human Rights Watch

“The uncertainties of freedom are no reason to revert to the enforced predictability of authoritarian rule,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The path ahead may be treacherous, but the alternative is to consign entire countries to a grim future of oppression.”...

Basma Atassi

Unable to witness horrific abuses, intelligence officer flees to hometown to teach Islam to children instead. Anti-government protesters were frequently arrested and tortured there before they were tucked into narrow and dark dungeons, he said. "They stepped on his beard," he said. "They humiliated him and continued to insult him and his religion....

New Age Islam Edit Desk

Islam, many Islamists claim, professes
freedoms and human rights for its citizens but ironically it is the Islamic
countries that have been lagging behind in providing its citizens the basic
freedoms and liberties. According to a recent survey, titled Freedom of the
World 2013, published by the Freedom House, an NGO based in America, the
Islamic countries have disappointed those who boast of the human principles of
Islam based on the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Though the report also shows that there
has been a decline in the overall freedom in the world due to the political,
religious and social crises, it prominently comes out in the report that the
Muslim majority countries or Islamic countries have fared badly in terms of
political and civil liberties to their citizens. ...

When Pakistan was formed, Jinnah wanted
Pakistan to be a secular country like India but the ambitious and narrow-minded
mullahs of the country gradually turned it into a Islamic country saying that
Pakistan will be an Islamic republic. … It’s time Muslims and the rulers of
Islamic countries shun violent approach to religion and the problems of their
collective life in the broader context of multicultural necessities of the
modern world.

Irfan Husain

Irfan Husain

SRI LANKANS aren’t as prone to street protests as their other South Asian cousins. But when Rizana Nafeek, a young Sri Lankan Muslim girl, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, anti-Saudi demonstrations broke out in Colombo as well as in other cities. This case drew worldwide condemnation because of the sheer injustice that led to Rizana’s execution....

Izeth Hussain

Rizana Nafeek

It seems to be a widespread notion that however tragic and horrifying Rizana Nafeek’s fate might be, we cannot in the last resort object to the Saudis having their own laws and applying them in the manner they think fit. That view seems sound on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states. But it carries a large assumption. It is that the Saudi manner of applying its laws will be consistent with internationally accepted standards. No one has any business to assume anything of the sort considering Saudi Arabia’s horrendous record in human rights.

Fil Munas

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must publicly denounce this monstrous abuse of a person and the unlawful death inflicted on an innocent fellow human by the custodians of a sordid system. High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay should speak out boldly against this abomination for her to have any credibility among fair-minded people around the world, and if she wishes to demonstrate that her Commission has a conscience.

Neil Merrett

“Perhaps a good place to start would be to lift the ban on the book co-authored by Dr Hassan Saeed – the current Special Advisor to President Waheed – which argues that there is no apostasy in Islam. This is a position that is upheld by a growing number of reputable scholars in the Islamic world and elsewhere.”

Jadaliyya Reports

Alkarama, a Swiss Non Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Geneva and whose work centers on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Arab World, received the petition on 23 July 2012. Arbitrary or illegal detention is a serious matter of concern regarding the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. The ongoing events in al-Hayer Prison near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia highlight this dramatic situation. Families of detainees and human rights activists claim that a serious crackdown has been occurring against prisoners in al-Hayer for almost two months.

Khaled Fahmy

Khaled Fahmy

At the time Atta’s case not only enraged public opinion because of its heinous and horrific nature, but also because it happened nine months after a revolution that was founded on a fundamental pillar protesting the systematic violations of the constitution, law, international charters, human morals and principles that the Egyptian police had often practiced throughout Mubarak’s long rule....

Dawn.com

The shrine is a Sufi centre with a madrasa that has been mentioned in the media in connection with a high number of alleged forced conversions of members from the Hindu community in the area, the most notable of which is the Rinkle Kumari case. The administrators of the madrasa, including the local MNA Mian Abdul Haq also known as “Mian Mitho” maintain that the conversions are not forced, but a result of the individual’s own choice…

Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad

Two NATO air strikes had already killed about 103 members of Qadhafi’s convoy. Cell phone images and photographs, as well as interviews with survivors, showed the investigators that the dead were killed in custody. Human Rights Watch’s investigation is clear that war crimes had been committed at Sirte. The Misrata chief prosecutor balked at an inquiry, saying that it would be too “dangerous” to “carry out an investigation in Sirte at the time,” a situation that seems unchanged....

Malini Nair

Malini Nair

The numbers say that 2. 5 million Malayalees migrate to the Gulf that of them most do menial jobs and live in dehumanising conditions, that thousands disappear into the desert countries as slave labour never to be found again and that Qatar itself has reported 120 Kerala workers "missing" this year. But Najeeb Muhammad refused to be reduced to a trafficking statistic because he didn't let the indignities corrode his faith or his goodness....

UN Working Group on Pak Disappearances

Pakistan has been on the road to democracy since its independence. As in all countries worldwide, this road has been difficult and met with many obstacles. Pakistan has endured several periods of military dictatorship throughout its history, which resulted at times in massive violations of human rights. The perceptions of different groups in the society of not being treated on an equal footing with others created frustrations and demands which were often responded to through violent means and further inequalities....

Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam

Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam

For the Muslim community there is nothing one can find in the Quran to deny such an equitable, just and compassionate moral procedure undertaken by the State within its legal duties فَرِيْضَۃَمِنَاللہ on behalf of all, as a gift of service عَدلْ بِل الْحسَانْ.

There are various other practical factors involved in such issues such as Health facilities, family finances and State resources etcetera; which are beyond the scope here……But since, Life is sacrosanct it must be kept with dignity for the living and that must be the sole criterion --for it to be taken away except for truth الَا بِلْحَقِ17-33

By Asma Sayyani

Strength, determination and vision are the ingredients to make the impossible, possible. Usually transgenders in a society scrapes a living together through dancing, singing and begging on the mean streets of metropolitans. People tolerate them due to beliefs that they can give blessings towards a happy and successful life and equally the threat that they may curse those who treat them badly....

By Arun Kumar

The high suicide rate, especially among blue-collar workers, in West Asia must push the government to explore labour-friendly solutions. Among other factors, working conditions tend to be harsh especially if you are a construction worker. Some unscrupulous employers (and not all) delay or don’t pay wages on time, physically abuse workers, retain passports to restrict labour mobility....

Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam

Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam

... In several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, for instance, no religious minority can even build their places of worship. And this when not only international conventions to which they are signatories, but even the religion they claim as their own, Islam, fully stands for minority rights. More than any other country Pakistan seems to be suffering from an epidemic of minority bashing. It is time the UN Human Rights Council reminded these countries to respect their own signatures on the UN conventions, if they cannot follow their own religion.

This is not only giving these Muslim-majority countries, but our religion, Islam itself a bad image, leading to fear of Islam in the minds of many non-Muslims around the world. I would like to bring to the notice of representatives from the world community that our religion, Islam, stands fully for protecting the rights of the practitioners of all religions. Indeed, the Holy Quran, while giving Muslims permission for the first time to defend themselves with arms, 13 years after the advent of Islam, asked them to do so in order to protect religious freedom per se, religious freedom of Jews, Christians, Hindus and Muslims, not just the religious freedom of Muslims.

The Quran said in Chapter 22, verse 40: “And had it not been that Allah checks one set of people with another, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and the mosques, in which His praise is abundantly celebrated would have been utterly destroyed. Clearly this makes it imperative as a religious duty on the part of Muslims to protect by whatever means available to them the rights of religious groups to build and worship God in their churches, synagogues, monasteries, temples, mosques. In Saudi Arabia, Taliban-controlled areas in Pakistan and Boko Haram controlled zones in Nigeria, for instance, it is impossible for religious or sectarian minorities to even build their places of worship, not to speak of practising their religions freely. The verse from Quran quoted above, makes it imperative on Muslims, in my view, to struggle to the best of their ability and resources, to change this situation. At the very least we should try and convince the authorities in these areas who claim to be Muslim to follow the Quran in letter and spirit and stop adding to the Islamophobia already prevailing in the world....

Yaqoob Khan Bangash

Yaqoob Khan Bangash is assistant professor of history at Forman Christian College

In 1948, Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made education a ‘right’ for all, and bound its signatories to make primary education free and compulsory for all member states of the United Nations. Article 25A reads: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.” Why this long delay? …

Dr Shabir Choudhry

Dr Shabir Choudhry, Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs, London

People of Jammu and Kashmir need to understand that the Kashmir dispute has lost its importance in the UN, because of non implementation of the UNCIP Resolutions, and Pakistani governments were the main hurdle in that. Mehran Baloch, while talking on this subject said his people were being killed; and they have no option but to fight for their independence. He said to save life, dignity and honour of his people; he will even welcome help from swine. …

Sardar Jamil Maqsood

Sardar Jamil Maqsood

Pakistan has signed convention of civil and political rights and protocol on religious freedom and freedom of thoughts, but the practice of the State and even the laws that have been promulgated there are completely contradictory to the letter and spirit of these conventions. For instance, the 1973 constitution of Pakistan declares “Ahmadis” as non-Muslims in clause 295C. This article is specifically directed against the Ahmadi sect. No wonder Ahmadis are under attack since that article has been incorporated in the book of law. Anyone accused under this law is not given right to a fair trial. Same is the fate of Shia minorities in that country. They are constantly under attack by extremists of the majority Sunni sects. ....

Dr Shabir Choudhry

Dr Shabir Choudhry, Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs, London

Pervez
Hoodbhoy, Professor of Qaaid e Azam University Islamabad, in his article, ‘Is
Rohrabacher wrong on Balochistan, wrote: 'Pakistan has also long criticised
India — and justly so — for its human rights abuses. But more people are dying
in Balochistan today than in Kashmir. For all their brutality against
stone-throwing Kashmiri boys, the Indians have not yet used helicopter gunships
and fighter jets against Kashmiris. Pakistan, on the other hand, uses airpower
as a matter of course in Balochistan and Fata. …

Abdul Hamid Khan

Chairman, Balawaristan National Front

These
ID Cards issued by government of Pakistan do not give us rights but death. This
is Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then Prime Minister of Pakistan who introduced
sectarian violence in 1971 to divide the people on Shia Sunni line, when the
people had broken Gilgit Jail to free their political leaders. If USA, Israel
or India is involved, what some agency stooges say, then why the government of Pakistan
and agencies do not present any proof, so the foreign killers are caught. …

Roy Brown

Former President, International Humanist and Ethical Union

Following
a lengthy discussion and debate on the rights of the child at the UN Human
Rights Council in Geneva today (9 March 2012), IHEU main representative Roy
Brown raised two issues that had gone unmentioned during the several hours of
debate: the problems faced by African children accused of witchcraft by
evangelical Christian preachers, and the failure of the Holy See to honour its
obligations to the world’s children under the Convention of the Rights of the
Child. …

Roy Brown

Former President, International Humanist and Ethical Union

Many States have much to do in improving public policy regarding sexual orientation, and there is evidently a huge gap in knowledge and understanding of homosexuality and the transgendered among both the public and governments. Statements such as that recently heard here that homosexuals threaten the future of the human race do no credit whatsoever to a member state of this Council. …